Focus Grid : Record Packaging | 2015

Concept packaging for 1970s Detroit-based punk group, MC5. Inspired by the track "The American Ruse" from their album Back In The USA, the die cut pattern on the record cover is an allusion to the stars and stripes of the American flag fused with a gritty aesthetic.

The project – and song lyrics – revolved around the idea of reduction, I designed this packaging to engage the listener in reductive design. I die cut the cover and used it as a stencil to spray paint the remainder of the motif onto what would become the record sleeve. Once the sleeve was inserted into the dust jacket, the two would create a crisp, black square; however, the pattern would reveal itself in once the two were separated.

Typography screen printed on a perforated sheet that contained the song information and the lyrics. The type was distorted by the die cut elements on the back of the record packaging.